Monday, February 18, 2013

Dream Clothes: Marilyn's Robe

     Last week, The Glamorous Housewife asked on her Facebook page, "If you could get one piece of clothing reproduced, what would it be?" I thought about that for a minute. There are so many beautiful vintage dresses that would be amazing to have, but where would I wear them? I've always loved the old school playsuits that are a one-piece romper with a matching skirt that goes over them, but that's a bit limiting to the summer time. What is something that I could wear all the time or any time, but I just can't seem to find? I knew exactly what I would have reproduced.
     One of my favorite movies is How to Marry a Millionaire starring Lauren Bacall, Betty Grable, and Marilyn Monroe. There are tons of amazing clothes in the film, including a fashion show, but every time I watch the movie or even think about the movie I can't help but covet the white terry cloth dressing gown the Marilyn wears in one scene. I know what you're thinking. It's a white terry cloth bathrobe. They sell them everywhere. No. Not like this one.


   
     It's floor length, fitted in the middle, and I believe it zips up the front. As a stay at home mom, I spend a lot of time, well, at home. I live a casual life and I like to be comfortable. This does not mean, however, that I want to look dowdy or frumpy and live in sweats or yoga pants. This right here folks, is some practical yet glamorous loungewear and I can absolutely imagine myself sitting on the couch with my morning cup of coffee in just such a robe.
     Another reason why it would be a dream of mine to have it reproduced is because I have looked for years for a robe like this and haven't ever found anything close. Even looking through vintage sewing patterns I haven't found anything with that same shape. I wonder if it was sewn custom for Ms. Monroe for the movie because it seems to be so unique.

     How about you? What article of clothing, vintage or not, would you want reproduced? Would you wear Marilyn's robe?

Friday, February 15, 2013

People of Yesteryear

     For as far back as I can remember, I have loved the style of the 1940's and 1950's. I'm sure it has something to do with watching so many old movies as a child, but I've always found that time period to be very glamorous, even if it was a hard time like WWII. It's pretty easy to look to films of the day and photographs of movie stars from that period to get inspired style wise, but what I find even more interesting and inspiring is looking at photos of regular people in their every day lives. Sure Lauren Bacall looks amazing in How to Marry a Millionaire, but what did the average woman of the day look like? As a wife and mother who doesn't have designers and make up artists and hair dressers, I wonder what my counter part back in the day would look like. What does she wear around the house or on vacation with her family? What does her hair look like? Does she really wear high heeled shoes all day every day?

   
     I love the simple, classic style these moms have going on. It's something that would be fairly easy to replicate and still be totally wearable in the modern world. I also love that it looks like the woman on the far left has on ballet flats. My kind of lady!

   
     How great is this group of ladies? Doesn't it make you want to curl your hair, put on a tiki dress, and join them in a cocktail?


     Here is the most beautiful photograph of four generations of women with baby, mom, great-grandmother, and grandmother together. It's so touching and sweet how the baby is reaching for her great-granny's glasses.




     Do you like looking through old photos, even if you don't know the people in them?

Monday, February 11, 2013

Keeping Busy

     Aside from the kids passing around the flu and colds for the past several weeks, here are some other things that have been happening around here lately....

     My second oldest, Ephraim, started taking fencing classes! I actually had fencing in mind for my oldest son, Canon, and he did go to the first class but just didn't have enough interest in it to continue going. Ephraim went just to see what it was like and ended up loving it. I should have known since he's pretty much down for any sort of sport or activity. It's so cool to watch him at practice and I must say I was pretty surprised to discover a fencing club here.

     I've also been doing some knitting. When it was really really cold in January I wasn't worried about Nicola having a hat really because it was so cold that we weren't going out at all, but now that it's warmed up to the 30's and the sun is out we're getting out more. It's still pretty cold for her little bald head though so I wanted her to have a warm hat. I've always loved the look of vintage styled pixie hats on children so I whipped up this one based on this pattern. I ended up putting on i-cords on each side to tie under the chin instead on a chin strap with a button. I'm currently working on another one in lavender for a friend's baby.

     I'm pretty interested in the idea of knitting an actual vintage pattern. It'd be great to have some cardigans and pull overs for myself, but I must confess that even though I've been knitting since 2005, I have never made a cardigan or sweater before. I've done scarves, hats, booties, blankets, and then shorts, pants, and soakers for the babies, but never a sweater- not even baby sized!! I'd like to give it a go, though. I never wear true vintage clothing because I'd be devastated if something had survived for 50+ years only to be ruined by my kids wiping their hand on me or something, but if I knit from a vintage pattern it's kind of like the best of both worlds, isn't it? It'd probably be the more sensible thing to do to try a baby sweater first, but that's just not my style. I'm just not a dip my toe in the water first type of gal. If I decided to do something, typically I just want to jump right in. I'm really loving this petal yoke cardigan, but I'll probably search around a bit more before I make a final decision.